


Come And Find Me In The Dark Now

by WakingNightmares



Series: Let It All Come Crashing Down [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Past Child Abuse, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Puppies, Trauma, sceo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2020-11-09 03:28:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20846777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakingNightmares/pseuds/WakingNightmares
Summary: “Are they getting any better?” She asked, careful to keep her voice neutral as she sat down across from him. He shrugged again, his fingers tapping almost absently at the table, and she frowned. “Theo.”“I don’t know. Define ‘better’,” He said, thinly veiled sarcasm leaking through.“Less in frequency. Less awful. Easier to wake up from. Take your pick,” She said, with a lot less patience than she would’ve liked. “If they aren’t, Deaton said he can come up with something to help you sleep.”“No.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks! Sorry this took me so much longer than planned, but... well... life. Anyways, this is the last story in the series, and it delves more into Theo trying to recover from past traumas, while navigating a fledgling relationship with Scott. This will be more angst-y than the previous two, but less direct pain lol.
> 
> As always, a huge shout-out to the lovely DemonzDust for her Beta skills.

Melissa trudged up the steps from work, exhaustion leaving her dragging her feet. The E.R. had been packed all night, mostly with people injured through their own stupidity.

Two drunken idiots who’d been shooting at each other with nail guns. Three drunk college girls who’d wrapped their car around a stop sign. The teenager who’d decided to try and play with a racoon. The woman two weeks away from her due date that decided to go to the amusement park, and went into early labor.

All she wanted was a cup of tea, a hot bath, and to curl up in bed.

As she entered the kitchen, however, she sighed. She spotted the dark hair, sticking up through crossed arms, breathing unsteadily. She set her keys down softly on the table, and watched as Theo sat up straight, his back jerking a bit, his eyes glazed and unfocused. After a moment, his eyes cleared, and he focused on her.

“Hi,” He said, biting back a bit of a yawn as he stretched his arms over his head. “How was work?”

“Long,” She said with a tired smile. “Where’s Scott?”

“Still sleeping. Want some pancakes?” Theo asked, pushing himself to his feet, and moving towards the fridge.

“Oh, no,” She said with a chuckle. “No, I think I’m gonna grab a bagel; don’t know that I could handle anything that heavy right now. You know… Scott hates it when you do this,” She said over her shoulder, rooting through the fridge for the bagels. It had become more and more common for her to come home and find Theo either passed out in the living room chair, or at the kitchen table. It greeted her probably three or four mornings a week; a usual occurrence by this point, something she was used to.

Theo shrugged as he sat back down. “He can hate it all he wants; there’s zero reason for neither of us to get any sleep,” He said casually, rubbing at his eyes.

“Are they getting any better?” She asked, careful to keep her voice neutral as she sat down across from him. He shrugged again, his fingers tapping almost absently at the table, and she frowned. “Theo.”

“I don’t know. Define ‘better’,” He said, thinly veiled sarcasm leaking through. 

“Less in frequency. Less awful. Easier to wake up from. Take your pick,” She said, with a lot less patience than she would’ve liked. “If they aren’t, Deaton said he can come up with something to help you sleep.”

“No.”

Deciding not to push the issue, she simply nodded. “Alright. Have any plans for the day?”

“Yeah. Gonna go help Deaton at the clinic for a bit. Actually…” He glanced over at the clock. “I should probably get going; gotta put gas in my truck, and I told him I’d be there by eight. I’ll make dinner when I get back.”

“Alright,” She said easily. “Be careful, alright?”

It was a testament to how tired or aggravated he was that he didn’t give her a smart-ass quip, simply nodding as he grabbed his keys.

When she heard the front door close, she released the sigh she’d been holding. Theo hadn’t been right since the incident in Canada —which, to a certain extent, was to be expected. But nearly two months had passed, and —if anything —he seemed to have only gotten worse.

It wasn’t obvious, of course; nothing about Theo ever was. It was subtle, but the signs were there.

He’d never slept well; since he’d moved in, he’d had nightmares. But now, instead of simply waking up, and staying awake, he’d curl up on himself somewhere, still looking exhausted when some noise finally woke him.

He still cooked most of the meals, which had gotten more extravagant but he never seemed to eat. He picked at them on good days, and on bad days all he’d do was move them listlessly around his plate. She’d also noticed that on his bad days, he tended to go overboard, preparing full course meals and desserts.

He still was a major part of all the pack activities, but aside from them and the occasional excursion to Deaton’s, he didn’t leave the house.

Since moving in with her and Scott, he’d never been one for sitting still. He was constantly moving around the house, cooking, cleaning, or going for runs, but lately he seemed unable to sit still for more than a few minutes. Where before, he would find something to occupy his hands, he now seemed to pace, or fidget almost nervously, like he was unsure of what to do with himself.

But he’d refused to talk about it. The little progress her and Scott had made in getting Theo to open up, to tell them what was wrong, had been lost. He refused to talk about what had happened in Canada, or do much more than mention the Dread Doctors. At one point, he’d started talking a bit about his nightmares —casually, almost lazily, trying to act like they didn’t matter —but in the past two months, he hadn’t done much more than admit he had them.

Which he couldn’t exactly hide, now that he and Scott were sharing a room most nights. Scott had told her that he’d told Theo how he felt, that Theo had responded… well, not negatively, at least. She wasn’t sure what they were to each other, hesitating to use a word as casual as ‘dating’, but not sure if ‘boyfriend’ was stretching it.

Scott’s heavy footsteps trudging down the stairs pulled her from her thoughts, and she turned towards the doorway, spotting Scott trying to stifle a yawn as he entered the kitchen.

He looked as exhausted as she felt; large bags were under his eyes, his hair disheveled, blinking as he stared around the room.

“Where’s Theo?” He asked quietly, moving towards the coffee pot and pouring himself a cup.

“He left for Deaton’s about ten minutes ago. Rough night?”

“Yeah, you could say that,” Scott said miserably, plopping down at the table, and taking a long drink of his coffee.

“How many?”

“At least three,” Scott muttered. “I woke up for two, and I’m assuming he came down here after a third.”

“Scott,” She started hesitantly. “Have you… Did you stop to think that maybe you two sharing a bed might be making it worse?”

Scott looked up at her, his brown eyes flashing angrily. “What? No! He asked me to, mom; he said it helps! I’m not trying to force him into —”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Melissa interrupted. “That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it. I just meant, maybe it doesn’t help as much as Theo thinks it does. Especially right now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Scott asked, his voice calmer, but she could still hear the hint of anger there.

“It means that Theo probably isn’t used to people being close, unless it’s to hurt him, Scott,” She explained gently. “How often do you think he’s had people touching him in a way that didn’t end up hurting him? While Theo might want you there… subconsciously, it’s probably scaring the hell out of him. Even if he doesn’t realize it. I’m not saying for definite that that’s what this is, just… something to think about, alright?”

Scott nodded, somewhat miserably, and she sighed, reaching her hand out to set on his.

“Scott… This is all gonna work out, okay?”

He looked up at her, and gave her a small smile. “I know it will, Mom.”

“I mean it, Scott,” She said sternly. “It’s gonna be hard, but he’ll get through this.”

“I know,” Scott repeated. “Whatever it takes, I’m gonna help him through this,” He said firmly, and Melissa could  _ feel  _ the Alpha in his voice as he spoke. “We’re gonna figure this out. I won’t give up on him. I don’t care how long it takes.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Alright, now you want to be about two centimeters forward of the right humerus, and straight in the acromiodeltoid muscle. The muscle has the thickest concentration of the veins that connect to —”

“The heart muscle, which will ensure it travels through the entire body as thoroughly as possible. Got it.”

Deaton watched as Theo mentally calculated the distance, and gently slid the needle in at a slight angle. His precision was immaculate, and Deaton gave him a small nod when he glanced back up at him.

“Very good, Theo,” Deaton said lightly, as Theo depressed the plunger carefully, before withdrawing the needle. He took a moment to inspect the injection sight. “Couldn’t have done it cleaner myself. Not a drop of blood. Very neat, and precise. I’m impressed.”

Theo gave him a small, almost imperceptible smile as he handed Alan the needle. “What can I say, Doc? I know my anatomy.” He hesitated a moment, staring back down at the large Russian Blue cat, before looking back up at Alan. “Do you uh… do you always anesthetize them before shots?”

Alan shrugged as he dropped the needle in the needle bucket. “Sometimes. It depends, really. Most of these shots aren’t painful in and of themselves, but some of my patients, like Spooky here, don’t handle the stress well. Which, given the fact that his owners refuse to put him on a diet, makes him a high risk for all sorts of bad things if he gets agitated. So it really depends on the patient, I suppose. If I think it will make it easier on the patient, then yes.”

Theo nodded, absently petting the sleeping cat. “Makes sense. This guy’s definitely overweight; gotta weigh at least twenty pounds,” He added with a chuckle. 

“Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Jonas do spoil their cats pretty badly,” Alan said with a smile. “They have three other ones, all as big as Spooky here. I’ve told them both that they’re not doing their pets any favors by feeding them whenever they whine, but…”

“Better to overlove than not love enough, I guess,” Theo muttered.

“Well, of the two options, I would have to agree with you, Theo. While they are shortening their animals lifespans by a few years… the years they do have will be happy ones, and they are most certainly well loved.”

Both their heads turned as they heard the small bell on the front door ring. Keeping his face both pleasant, and neutral, Alan busied himself with the cat, as he spoke.

“Could you see who that is, please, Theo?”

He could see the reluctance written on the boy’s face, the almost invisible plea for Alan himself to handle it. But Alan kept his easy smile on as he began cleaning up, and -eventually -Theo sighed and walked into the office area.

“Hi, welcome to Beacon Hills Veterinary Hospital. How can I help you?”

Alan moved closer to the wall, quietly rearranging his many vials, so he could overhear the conversation. While he trusted Theo to handle the situation, he also wanted to be nearby incase something went wrong, or a question arose that Theo couldn’t answer.

“Uh… Yeah, I uh… My female Boxer got loose, and…” Alan heard a small series of whimpers, as something heavy was set on the counter. “I need you folks to take them. Otherwise they’re going in the river.”

“Excuse me?” At the tone in Theo’s voice —that slight edge, overlaid with almost sickening politeness —Alan only barely restrained himself from heading out front. But he did manage, knowing that he had to allow Theo this opportunity to handle things himself. Which was part of the reason he’d encouraged Theo to start helping him at the clinic to begin with.

“Well… They’re half coyote,” The man said, his tone clearly indicating his discomfort. “Coydogs. When she got loose, my dog must’ve ran into a coyote somewhere. If… if they were normal puppies I could handle them myself, but… See, you can tell by the triangular ears, here, and the white face mask here. Classic signs of coydogs. Not to mention this tail. See how it’s —”

“I can see it.” Theo’s voice was tight as he cut the man off. “What I’m  _ not  _ quite clear on why you’re threatening to drown a bunch of  _ puppies _ .”

“‘Cause they’re coydogs,” The man said again, as if it explained everything. “I got three kids, and two other dogs, son. Coydogs are infamous for turning on their owners, and being aggressive and temperamental. Everybody knows it, and I can’t take that kind of risk, you understand? I got kids.”

Deciding the situation had gone quite far enough, Alan rounded the corner, giving the man a hard look as he stepped up to the counter.

“We’ll take care of it,” He said, his voice stern. “Good day. Perhaps try keeping a closer eye on your dog in the future, before you decide to start murdering innocent puppies, yes? Otherwise we offer spaying at a very decent price here.”

The man opened his mouth, as if to argue, before deciding against it. He nodded gruffly, and left.

Releasing a sigh, Alan moved over to the counter, and looked inside the box.

“Hmm. Well, bring them to the back; we’ll see about getting them fed, do an exam.”

Theo nodded stiffly, but picked the box up with almost excessive care as he followed Alan back into the clinic. He set it down on the exam table, next to the still sleeping cat.

Gently, Alan picked one of the puppies out of the box, and took a cursory glance before handing him over to Theo.

“So. What can you tell me?”

Theo examined the little thing for a few minutes, before setting it back down in the box and staring at the other puppies. After another few minutes, he looked back up.

“Well, the asshole was right. They’re definitely half coyote, although you can see the Boxer there too,” He said, his voice devoid of emotion as he met Alan’s eyes. “Maybe three, four weeks old. Looks like three boys, one girl. The one you picked up is definitely the runt. Their eyes are all open, but it looks like they’re still adjusting to the light and movement. Definitely not old enough for real food yet.”

“No, they aren’t. They’ll need another four to six weeks of milk at least,” Alan confirmed. “Anything else?”

“They look healthy enough; no signs of malnutrition, abuse, or diseases. But coyotes and Boxers are both are pretty hardy, so that makes sense. Only real issue I see is the little one’s rear left leg turns out a little bit, but he could grow out of it once he starts actually moving around. Doesn’t seem to be any actual damage, or bone malformation. Might just be weaker since he’s the runt of the litter.”

Alan nodded. “Most likely he will; if not, a brace could always be used to reinforce the muscle. Unfortunately… I’m not entirely sure I can handle four newborn pups,” He said sadly. “I can make some calls, but —”

“I’ll take them.”

Alan looked up at Theo, his gaze searching the boy’s face. “Are you sure? I want to make sure that you understand the work this will be, Theo. Not just because there’s four of them; at this age, they’re going to need to be fed every three to four hours. That’s four bottles, interspersed, since they might not all eat at the same time. Without their mother, you’ll be responsible for teaching them all the things they’d normally get from her: social etiquette, pack bonds and hierarchy… it’ll be a full time job for at least a month, probably longer. And I’ll be honest with you, Theo, at this age… there’s no guarantee they’ll all make it. Particularly the runt of the litter. Are you sure this is a responsibility —and potential heartache —that you’re ready to take on?”

“Yes.” There was no hesitation in Theo’s voice as he looked down in the box, then back up at Alan. “I can handle it. And I won’t lose any. I won’t.”

Alan nodded. “Alright. Well, then let’s see what supplies I have here, and get these guys fed, shall we?”

Theo nodded, reaching back in the box, and picking up the smallest puppy again, cradling it against his chest with one hand. “Anything you don’t have, I can go out and pick up.”

“As long as you’re sure, Theo. It’ll be a lot of work, and you will be these puppies entire world.”

“I got it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks! I'm back! As always, a big shout-out to Demonzdust, both for the inspiration, the beta'ing, and the art work!

Melissa watched, a small smile on her face, as the pack ‘ooh’ed and ‘aww’ed over the puppies.

Lydia, Corey, Liam, and Theo sat on the floor in a semi-circle, each holding a small bottle, feeding one of the tiny puppies. Scott sat on the couch behind them, a small, but content smile on his face, as Stiles chattered his ear off. Something about the nursery and seahorses. Mason had given up trying to get Liam and Corey to do their studying and was watching his friends with a good-natured, but put-upon face.

Chris was sitting in the chair, watching the kids with a slight grin, occasionally making comments about Stiles’ opinion on the nursery, but otherwise, content to simply observe.

“You know, my parents never let me have a dog,” Corey said quietly, snuggling the brindle colored puppy he was holding. “They always said they were too much work.”

Melissa had never questioned Corey too much, but she’d always gotten the impression that Corey’s home life pre-Dread Doctors had been less than ideal. The little, almost casual throw-away comments he made, how easily spooked he’d get, all painted a fairly bleak picture. From what she’d gathered, Hayden had had the most stable home life out of all the Chimeras, which was saying a lot when you considered Hayden worked selling drinks at a nightclub.

“Well, they weren’t wrong,” Chris said quietly, interrupting her train of thought. “Especially as puppies. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have had one though,” He added with a smile.

“If you want, after they’re weaned, you can have one, Corey,” Theo said, his gaze locked on the smallest of the puppies, curled up against his chest, snoring lightly. “Dr. Deaton said maybe four weeks, and they should be ready to wean.”

Melissa barely hid her chuckle as Corey looked pleadingly at Mason. The chameleon had been living with Mason and his parents since the events with the Ghost Riders —another indication that his homelife had been less than ideal.

Mason gave Corey a stern look that lasted for all of three seconds, before he chuckled. “I doubt my parents would mind. I mean, we still have to ask, but I don’t see why they’d say no. You’re cleaning up after any ‘accidents’, though.”

“You know, Stiles… Now that we’ve ‘officially’ moved back to Beacon Hills… We could get a dog,” Lydia said, her voice deceptively casual. “I’m sure your dad would love it too.”

“Uh… Lydia, I don’t… I mean, a dog? A _ puppy _ ? With a new baby? I mean, the baby will be here in like, two months and… and… and Theo says that’s when the uh… when the puppies will be ready, and I don’t know; I mean, a puppy _ and _a baby, that’s a lot of work, right?” He glanced around at the others in the room, before his gaze locked on Chris and Melissa. “I mean… back me up here, right?”

“Actually, Stiles, coydogs are great family dogs, especially when you get them as puppies. They’re very intelligent, and develop incredibly strong packbonds. Raise them right, and you’ll never find a dog more loyal or protective. Up until the fifties, our family would raise them to track down werewolves,” Chris said thoughtfully, staring at the puppies.

“You… oh,” Scott said, his face thoughtful. “Really?”

“Yes, Scott. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, most dogs can be easily cowed by werewolves. They’re not dominant enough to stand up against a werewolf, even a Beta or Omega. Actual wolves form almost immediate pack bonds with werewolves, and would turn on us. By breeding coyotes with dogs though, we found that we could breed the cunning and intelligence of the coyote with the loyalty and protective instinct dogs feel towards their owners. There are still hunting families in South America and Europe that breed them, but in the States, too many people got uptight about having coyotes around, and they developed a bad reputation. Honestly, I can’t think of a better dog for a protector for the baby,” He finished quietly.

Lydia shot Stiles a satisfied smirk. “See?”

Stiles threw his hands up in defeat, slumping down on the couch next to Scott. “Alright, alright. After they’re... weaned or whatever.”

“What are you going to name them, Theo?” Chris asked, ignoring Stiles’ pouting.

“Well, I… I was thinking since there’s three boys, and one girl, I thought Natasha, Clint, Thor, and Bucky,” Theo said, almost shyly, point to each of the puppies as he named them, stopping with the one on his chest.

Melissa felt her heart warm a bit; despite everything that had changed since Canada, Theo still loved the Avengers movies, and had rewatched all of them at least a dozen times since he’d moved in with them. She’d actually bought him some posters to hang in his room, which he’d carefully tacked to the wall behind the desk she’d found for him. 

“I think those are excellent names, Theo,” She said, giving him a smile. “I’m gonna go get stuff set out for your pizzas.”

She walked into the kitchen before any of the kids spotted the look on her face, knowing that it would only embarrass Theo further if anyone saw her tears of genuine happiness. Swiping at her eyes, she began pulling out the ingredients for the pizzas. Mushrooms, sausage, pepperoni, onions, and peppers had all been chopped and put in the fridge the previous night -presumably by Theo -but she always put the sauce on the pizzas herself, to save a lot of mess.

“Hey, you okay?”

Melissa leaned her cheek on Chris’ hand, where he’d set it on her shoulder. “Yeah. I’m… I’m good, actually.”

“Good,” He said with a smile, moving around to the opposite side of the island. He picked up a spatula, and began helping her spoon the sauce onto the pizzas. “I think these puppies will be good for Theo. Give him… purpose. Help him form bonds,” He said quietly.

Melissa nodded. “I always said that after what happened with Roxie… I said I’d never put myself through that type of heartache again. That it wasn’t worth it for the few years of companionship. But… Seeing the kids -seeing _ Theo _-with those puppies… Well, I was wrong. And if puppies is what it takes to make Theo happy, then by god, he’ll have puppies.”

********

_Later that night_

Scott watched, smiling, as Theo settled each of the puppies gently into their new bed: a laundry basket that Theo had lined with his and Scott’s shirts for padding. As the chimera set the last puppy -who was already half asleep -in the basket, he glanced over at Scott, unsurety written on his face.

“Hey, I uh… I’m sorry that I didn’t ask about the puppies. I should have talked to you and your mom first before -”

“Theo, it’s fine,” Scott said with a chuckle. “I’m actually really excited. I haven’t had a dog since… you know… Roxie. I think that this is gonna be good. For everybody.”

Theo rolled his eyes as he pulled the box closer to the bed. “Well, it’s a good thing neither of us have been getting much sleep lately; these guys are probably gonna wake me up every few hours for food.”

Sensing his moment, Scott shifted on the bed, until he was sitting facing Theo. “Theo, I…. Look, about your nightmares. I think we should talk.”

“Scott, I’m fine. I’ve had, what, almost ten years to get used to ‘em? I’m good.”

“Theo, no offense, man, but… That’s bullshit and we both know it. I think…” He took a deep breath. “Theo, I think if you’d just talk to me —about the nightmares, about Canada, about the Doctors, whatever it is —that it’d help.”

Theo sighed, leaning back against the headboard. “Look, Scott, I already dropped enough shit on your door, alright? I’m not gonna add to it. I’m fine.”

“That’s not how a relationship works, Theo,” Scott said, giving him a smile. “We don’t just bottle shit up inside, and let it fester. You can _ tell _me, Theo. I want to help. You know that, right?” He reached out, and set his hand on Theo’s leg. “I just want to help you.”

Theo was silent for what felt like hours. It was probably only half a minute or so. But finally he looked up, his face that damn mask that Scott hated, the one that hid everything the Chimera was thinking.

“Scott, I just… Not yet, okay?”

Scott sighed, pulling his hand back. “Alright. What about talking to Lydia? You were talking to her a few times a week before her and Stiles moved back. Now that she’s opened up her own practice her, you could set up, like regular appointments.”

It was Theo’s turn to sigh as he stood, grabbing the green pajama bottoms Melissa had bought for him, and one of Scott’s old sleeveless tees. “I’ll… I’ll think about it, okay?” At Scott’s hesitant look, Theo hung his head for a moment, before looking back up at Scott. “Scott, I… I can’t promise you anymore than that right now, okay? I just… I can’t.”

Scott nodded, but he knew he couldn’t quite hide the disappointed look on his face as Theo disappeared into the bathroom to change.

He wouldn’t lie, and say that that didn’t hurt a bit as well. He knew Theo had no problem showing off his body; he’d seen him wander around the house without a shirt on, regardless of who was visiting before. Seen him strip down to a pair of gym pants to go running with the pack.

But at night, Theo always wore a shirt and loose pants to bed. Every night, without fail, he’d disappear into the bathroom to change, and wouldn’t come out until Scott had turned the light on the nightstand off.

Scott bit back his groan of frustration, and let himself fall back onto the bed. He wasn’t frustrated with Theo, per say, but dammit all if he wasn’t weary from wandering around blindly in the minefield of Theo’s mental landscape. Theo was either unable, or unwilling, to point out the threats, and Scott knew that he’d tripped up, saying or doing the wrong thing, more than a few times, leaving both of them on edge for a few days. The disaster that had been Scott trying to cuddle about a week into them sharing a bed had been catastrophic.

And it’d taken Scott almost four days to even fucking notice. Theo hadn’t said a damn thing about it, and so Scott had taken that as a tacit sign of approval… until breakfast, four days after the first time, when he’d realized that Theo had accidentally burnt every single thing he’d cooked, and nearly drenched the table with the coffee that kept spilling from the cup in his twitching hands.

Theo hadn’t said a word. But that night, Scott had stayed in his own side of the bed, staying as close to the edge as possible. The next morning, things had went back to normal.

Which was aggravating in and of itself; Scott felt shitty for pushing Theo, for trying to get him to open up, to tell Scott what he was thinking or feeling, but if Scott didn’t push, he walked into more and more proverbial landmines. 

Most days, it felt like Scott was adrift on a raft, without a paddle. He was never sure what to say, or how to act, constantly worried about setting off some trigger he didn’t know existed, and setting off the next tidal wave of disaster.

Silently, he reached over, and clicked off the light. Sure enough, a few seconds later, the bathroom door opened, and Theo made his way to the far side of the bed.

“Night, Theo.”


	4. Chapter 4

_ Four Weeks Later _

Lydia watched, eyes narrowed as Theo shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Oh, sure, he  _ looked _ relaxed; arms across the back of the couch, feet crossed in front of him, a small smirk playing on his face.

But he kept shifting; small, almost unnoticeable movements, more like nervous tics. The smirk kept fading. Then he would notice, and it’d slide back into place.

“How are the puppies doing?”

A brief flash of surprise crossed his face before he schooled it back to a neutral expression. “Pretty good, I guess. Clint isn’t the brightest; he keeps trying to climb everything, then he falls inside and whines until somebody saves him. Thor is just…” He paused, chuckling quietly. “He just wants to sleep all day. Swear, I’ve never seen a dog that lazy. Natasha’s the biggest so far, and she likes to throw her weight around. We gotta keep an eye on her, or she’ll steal the others’ food.”

Lydia nodded, smiling a bit herself. “And how’s Bucky?”

Theo shrugged, picking some imaginary lint off his shirt. “Fine. I mean… He’s still a lot smaller than the other three, so he just likes to sit with people.”

“With people?” She asked, arching one eyebrow knowingly.

He chuckled again. “Well, usually me. Unless Melissa’s home. He likes curling up with her in her chair while she watches her shows. But… I was thinking, I think Thor would be a good choice for you and Stiles. Since he’s so laid back, you know? You’re not gonna want a high energy pup with the baby.”

Lydia nodded. “I’ll trust your judgement, Theo. You know them best.”

Theo seemed to mull that over for a few moments, before he suddenly sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Look, I know everybody thinks I took the puppies because they’re mutts, okay?. That I… I identify with them or some shit, just because they’re unwanted half-coyotes. Or that I did this because I somehow thought if I saved them, maybe somebody could save me.”

Lydia pursed her lips for a second, before she nodded. “I’d considered that, Theo. I actually put a lot of thought into it. But… the more I thought about it, the more I had my doubts. While I’m sure that’s part of the reason, I think there’s more to it than that.”

Theo snorted, rolling his eyes as he sat back again. “Yeah? So what is it then?” He asked snarkily.

“You want the truth?” She asked quietly. When he nodded tightly, she continued. “Well, I think you took them in because you’re trying to balance the scales. Because you think you’ve done so many awful, terrible things, that you’ve hurt so many people, you think that if you can save these puppies, you can begin to right all those wrongs. That these unwanted, unloved puppies can help you start to balance out your ledger.”

Theo smirked, looking for all the world like he had that night he’d driven his claws into her head, before the look turned to one of derision. “You think I’m stupid enough to believe that saving a few mutts could make up for the things I’ve done? The people I’ve killed? That saving some random ass dogs some asshole dropped off is gonna ‘redeem’ me?”

Lydia couldn’t help but roll her eyes, and she leaned back in her chair, forcing herself to look relaxed in the face of the sudden dark shift in his tone. “Yes, Theo, that’s  _ exactly  _ what I think. I think that you know it’s  _ something _ , and since you’re too afraid to be around people, these puppies are the closest thing you’re willing to try with.”

Theo pulled back sharply, glaring. “I’m not  _ afraid _ ,” He said scornfully.

She pondered that for a moment, before she nodded. “You’re right. I didn’t word that well. You’re not afraid  _ of  _ people, you’re afraid to  _ trust  _ people. You’re afraid that, once they find out the truth, they’ll push you away. That if people know the real you, you’ll always be alone. So you avoid the entire process by not giving them the chance to prove you wrong. How are you and Scott doing, by the way?” She asked.

He blinked a few times, clearly caught off guard by the sudden topic shift, but then he deflated, the change absolutely startling to watch. Gone was the ever present smirk, the arrogant posture, replaced by sheer exhaustion.

“Honestly? I don’t know how much longer Scott will put up with me,” He said quietly, looking out the window behind her. “And I don’t know what will happen when that happens.”

“Why do you think that?” She asked curiously.

“Because I can’t… I can’t ‘fake’ it like I used to,” He said simply. “I tried… I just can’t.”

“Fake what? Fake… during sex? Are you and Scott sexually active?” She asked, just barely keeping the concern from her voice.

She hadn’t really broached the conversation with Scott; she hadn’t thought it would’ve been an issue yet. But Theo was in no condition to be able to knowingly consent to having sex, particularly with the person who was giving him food, shelter, and companionship. When her and Scott had talked, after Canada, she’d told him what Theo had said while they were locked in cages. About how he was confident that he actually wanted to try being in a relationship with him. She’d said it more to assuage the doubts she knew Scott rightfully had, but she had added a cautious warning that he would have to take things slow.

She hadn’t really thought about him and Theo having sex; she probably should have —they were two physically healthy teenage males, after all —but she had assumed Scott would know better than to try and initiate anything so soon after Theo had been retraumatized.

Theo snorted, interrupting her thoughts. “We’d have to be able to _ touch _ for us to fuck,” He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice, before his tone moderated. “I can’t even do that without tensing up. I… I never liked people touching me, but I used to be able to pretend. Could fake it with the best of ‘em. No matter what it was. But now… I don’t know if it was the Lumin de Lumine, or this thing with Scott, but I just… I can’t,” He finished abruptly.

Lydia gave him a small smile. “While I’m sure both of those things have added to it… Theo, you have to understand: subconsciously, your brain realizes you’re safe now. That you can show what you want, and you won’t be punished. That you can be whoever you want, that your wants and needs actually matter, that people will respect those wants and needs. It’s the same reason you’ve been having nightmares. Whether or not you think so, this is actually a good thing. I’m sure it doesn’t feel that way now, but this is… well, it’s healthy. Your body realizes that you can show these things without fear of reprisal.”

“Yeah, well… this ‘good thing’ is gonna end the only thing I’ve got going for me,” He said tiredly. “Scott’s not gonna stick with a guy he can’t even touch, much less if he isn’t getting anything out of it.”

Lydia sighed. “Theo… are you sure you  _ want  _ to be with Scott?” She held up her hands at his indignant face, cutting him off before he could speak. “Hold on before you get snarky. When you and Scott first kissed, it was after a highly emotional situation: finding the Santa Barbara pack slaughtered, with only a young boy who’d been tortured surviving. And you told me yourself, it went poorly. That Scott made you question yourself, and your motives. Then, you decided that you did, in fact, want to be with him after being tortured while we were in Canada. Both times, highly emotional, potentially triggering situations.

“While I’m not trying to make you doubt yourself, I want to make sure that you’re actually doing this for the right reasons.”

Theo sighed, sitting back on the couch again. “I… Lydia, he’s…” He paused for a moment, clearly trying to gather his thoughts. “I’ve never had anyone… care about me before. For some stupid, fucked up reason, Scott actually… he likes me. Not just ‘oh, he wants to bang me’. He… he trusts me. And he’s a great guy, you know? There isn’t a selfish bone in his body, he’s just genuinely a good human being.”

Lydia smiled gently, leaning forward a bit. “That’s all very true, Theo. But I didn’t ask about Scott, and how Scott feels about you. I asked if this was something you still wanted,” She said softly. “Why you want this, if you still do.”

“Coffee.”

“I’m sorry?” She asked in confusion.

“He… I’d… I’d had a… a bad night,” He said haltingly. “And so we were up all night. We were exhausted, both of us. I told him I was gonna take a shower, and I’d make breakfast when I came out. I always make breakfast, you know? So I went in, and took a shower, and when I came out… he’d made me pancakes. I mean, they tasted like shit,” He said with a chuckle. “But he’d went all out trying. Banana slices for eyes, a strawberry nose, and whipped cream smile. And when I was standing there, he handed me a cup of coffee. And I drank it, because hell, he’d went all out right? But usually, his coffee tastes like ass; he likes it super strong, so it always tastes like chewing on bitter tree bark. So I take a sip, and… he’d made it exactly how I like it. Three scoops of sugar, heavy on the creamer. It was perfect.

“So we’re sitting there, and I’m drinking my perfectly made coffee, with pancakes that taste like flour, and Scott’s just looking at me, and he’s… He’s freaking giving me this thousand watt smile. He got like, two hours of uninterrupted sleep, but he’s sitting there looking at me eat breakfast that he made, and he’s smiling like he’s the happiest guy in the world,” He said, his voice cracking a bit. “Like, I deserve smiley face pancakes, and perfect coffee in his world. And it’s not just me; he does that for everyone. The type of guy who just goes out of his way to help everybody else. To make everybody else feel better. He’s… he’s just a great guy like that, and then…”

“Then what?” Lydia prodded gently.

“And then I’m me,” He said harshly. “Here’s this guy, this perfect guy, making me, Theo Raeken, smiley face pancakes like it’s the most normal thing. Like I haven’t killed people, ripped people apart like they were nothing, and moved on without blinking an eye. Like I didn’t nearly kill him, and his pack, or help the Dread Doctors bring a medieval monster back to life. He’s everything that’s good and right, like a hero you read about in books, and I’m the monster that everyone fears. The villain who’s done things most people can’t even dream of, and for some stupid fucking reason, the hero is making the villain fucking smiley face pancakes, and memorizing how he takes his coffee. And all I can think is, this is… it’s more than I deserve, it’s perfect, like… like something out a stupid fairy tale or something. But when I try to… to do  _ anything…  _ I can’t move. All I can think is, he’s him… and I’m me. I don’t deserve any of this. I don’t deserve pancakes and coffee; I want it -more than anything -but… I don’t deserve it. And when I think about it, I realize that, eventually, Scott will realize how awful I am, then I can’t move, and I feel like I’m gonna throw up, or start choking.”

Lydia was quiet for a few moments when Theo finished, trying to gather her thoughts. Finally, she started, “You like the Captain America movies, right?” When Theo gave her a tight nod, she continued, “You keep saying that you’re the villain. That you’re the monster, the bad guy, because you’ve done horrible things. Theo… was the Winter Soldier a villain? Was he a monster, because he killed people?”

He rolled his eyes again. “It’s not the same thing. Even leaving aside the fact that it’s a freaking  _ movie…  _ Bucky was kidnapped by Hydra, tortured until he couldn’t remember anything else, then brainwashed and forced to do those things.”

“Uh huh.”

“It’s not the same!” He said angrily. “I wasn’t brainwashed, I wasn’t forced, I made choices! I  _ chose  _ to do the things I did.”

“Did you, Theo? Because, the way I see it… You were kidnapped by a group of evil scientists, who wanted to turn you into their weapon. You were experimented on, and tortured until you became what they wanted you to be. Then they wound you up, and set you loose.”

She paused, glancing over at the clock on the wall behind him. “Looks like that’s all we have time for today. Think on that, okay?”


	5. Chapter 5

Melissa sighed contentedly as she reached for the remote. On her lap, Bucky groaned at the movement, giving her his deepest betrayed face when her movements jostled him. She chuckled, patting the puppy’s head with one hand as she clicked on the television, and turned it to Once Upon A Time, settling into her chair.

She wasn’t even through the intro, when Theo appeared in the doorway, a small grin on his face as he spotted her and the puppy.

“Why am I not surprised?” He said with an eye roll. “You know, he’s not supposed to wander around the house without one of us. You shouldn’t reward him for breaking the rules.” Despite his words, there was amusement in his voice, before he turned, and gave a low whistle. A few moments later, Clint, Thor, and Natasha came darting out from behind him, tripping over each other in their haste.

“He didn’t,” Melissa said defensively, scratching the puppy behind his ears. “I went and got him.”

Theo laughed quietly, as he sat down on the floor a few feet away from her chair. Instantly, the other three puppies began climbing and bouncing on him, yipping in excitement. On her lap, Bucky yawned, staring at his siblings, before burying further into Melissa’s lap.

“You heard from Scott yet?” Melissa asked, only half-paying attention to her show, and more focused on Theo’s relaxed face, as he played on the floor.

“Huh? Oh, no, Mason texted me on my way out of Lydia’s; they’d just arrived at the college, and were trying to find their room. I sent him one back, told him to make sure Scott checks in with you, and Liam checks in with his parents before they go to bed,” He added. “Presuming they actually sleep tonight; Visitor’s Weekend in Sacramento, I imagine things are gonna be busy.”

Melissa nodded. “I bet. But I forgot that you had your first visit with Lydia today; how’d it go?”

“It uh… It went fine,” He said, clearly trying for a casual tone as he flipped Natasha over onto her back, and rubbed her belly. Clint shoved over his sister, flopping onto her face, yipping as he tried to get Theo’s attention.

Melissa nodded again, not wanting to push. She turned her attention back to the television, and began absently petting Bucky.

She was just starting to get engrossed in yet another ‘Charming’ family drama moment, when Theo cleared his throat. She glanced over curiously, and found Theo staring at her.

“Something on your mind?” She asked, pausing the TV. “You wanna talk?”

“Do you, uh… Do you think Scott’s… happy?”

Melissa was quiet for a moment, thinking over her words before she spoke. “Well, He’s not happy with how much you’re struggling, but not because of you. He wants to help you, and he doesn’t know how. I know sometimes he thinks that he’s only making things worse, and it bothers him that he can’t make it better.”

Theo scoffed, rolling Clint over as the tan and brown pup tried nipping at his fingers. “That makes two of us,” He muttered, not looking at her. “If I knew how, I’d tell him.”

“Theo, I think if you would just… just open up. Just talk to him, you know? Like I said, sometimes, it seems like we’re hurting you more than we’re helping. And that’s because we don’t know what’s going on in your head. If you’d just talk to us —to Scott —maybe we could help you.” She finished quietly.

He turned to meet her gaze, those piercing blue eyes unreadable. “Melissa, I know that Scott —that all of you —know I’ve done… a lot of bad things. But there’s a difference between knowing I did some really fucked up shit, and knowing exactly what I did. If…if Scott knew, really  _ knew,  _ what I’d done… Some of the shit I did...I don’t know if he’d be able to look at me.”

Her heart aching at the broken tone in his voice, Melissa leaned forward in the chair, ignoring Bucky’s irritated groan as she looked Theo dead in the eye.

“Theo, listen to me: whatever you did, or whatever you didn’t do: it doesn’t matter. Nothing is going to change how Scott feels about you. And I know you’ve heard it before, but, Theo… nobody blames you for what happened when you were with the Doctors. You hear me? Nobody. Blames. You.”

“But you should,” Theo said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I… Melissa, you don’t know what I did.”

“It doesn’t matter,” She said firmly. “I understand that you did horrible things, Theo; we all do. But nobody blames you for it. You were a kid —and don’t you dare say that doesn’t excuse anything,” She said, cutting him off before he could speak. “You were just a kid, trying to survive a situation that most adults would crack under. You spent almost a decade being tortured, Theo. Did you make bad choices? I’m sure you did. Did you do things that would probably make most people sick? I don’t doubt it. But it’s not your fault. You were in an awful situation, one where there were no good choices. Every choice you made was a choice between bad and worse. Nobody blames you for what you did, because we understand that, in that situation, none of us can say we would have done any differently.”

“Scott would have,” Theo said, swiping unshed tears from his eyes. He looked down at Thor climbing into his lap, Natasha and Clint trying to vie for position on his knees, as the three puppies whined softly. “Scott wouldn’t have… he wouldn’t have done what I did.”

“Because Scott isn’t  _ you _ , Theo. He wasn’t  _ raised  _ like you. My ex-husband might have been an emotionally abusive alcoholic, but Scott had other people, other adults in his life to teach him. He had me, and Dr. Deaton, and Sheriff Stilinski. He had a  _ home  _ where he was safe, he had people who loved him, people who made sure he was cared for, people to empower him to make good choices.

“Even before the Doctors, I don’t think you had that. I don’t know much about your parents, but from the little I do know… Theo, I don’t think you’ve  _ ever  _ had someone in your life who truly took care of you. Who cared what you wanted, who cared what you thought; somebody to teach you right from wrong, or to take your feelings on anything into account.” She said quietly. “I know you don’t like talking about it, but tell me something: did your parents ever once just hold you when you cried? Tell you that everything was going to be okay? Help you when you didn’t know how to handle a situation?”

When Theo mutely shook his head, she continued, “And  _ that’s  _ why nobody blames you, Theo. Everyone in the pack had people who loved them. Sure, maybe they had horrible things happen to them in their lives, but they had people there to pick them up when they stumbled. People who would do anything to keep them safe. But, Theo… you never had that. You went straight from your parents, to the Doctors, and honestly, honey, you never really had a chance.”

Theo was quiet for a few minutes, clearly fighting back tears as he stared at the puppies sitting in his lap. Finally, when he seemed to get his emotions under control, he looked up at her.

“You know, I uh… I don’t know what happened to them,” He said quietly.

“To who? Your parents?” Melissa asked, unable to keep the shock out of her voice. At Theo’s nod, she went quiet for a moment. She’d naturally just assumed that his parents were dead; killed by the Dread Doctors, or even by Theo himself. There’d never really been a good opportunity to ask before, with Theo typically clamming up any time his parents were mentioned. “Have you ever tried looking for them?”

He shook his head. “No, I uh… Either the Doctors killed them, or… or when I went missing, they never… they never even filed a missing person’s report. I didn’t really want to know which it was; don’t know which would’ve been worse,” Theo said quietly, staring at the puppies in his lap. “After a while, I just figured… It didn’t really matter.”

Melissa wasn’t sure what to say to that. The room was quiet for a few uncomfortable moments, before Theo cleared his throat.

“So what are the Charmings wrecking now?” He asked, plastering a smile on his face.

Melissa decided to let it go, and she turned the volume up before hitting play.

“Everything -like normal,” She said, forcing herself to chuckle as the show began playing again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As always, a huge shout-out to Demonzdust. Check out their stuff :)

“Hey, Melissa! I thought you were on PTO, girl!”

Melissa forced a smile onto her face as she moved past the nurse’s station. “Yeah. Just had a few notes I wanted to check, make sure they ended up in the files.”

One of the other nurse’s rolled her eyes good-naturedly as she walked up. “You know, Melissa, some days, we run this whole wing, without your help. On good days, we even manage to keep track of all the patients!”

Melissa returned the eyeroll with one of her own, lightly swatting the nurse on the back. “I know that. But I’m a control freak, so I guess you’ll just have to deal,” She teased, grabbing a laptop from behind the nurse’s station, and moving towards the nurse’s lounge. “Besides, with Scott and his friends in Sacramento for Visitor’s Weekend, it’s not like I have anything else to do.”

Jen shook her head. “Mhhmm. I’m gonna have to have a talk with that new man of yours; leaving you all alone while the nest is empty. Man’s a damn fool.”

“He’s still overseas for work,” Melissa said, feeling like she was making excuses, although she wasn’t necessarily lying; Chris  _ was  _ overseas, although not for his job as a security consultant. He was still looking into any lead on Lumen de Lumine, traveling the continent with Derek. “Besides… we sit at home, watch TV, and I just end up thinking about how Scott’s gonna be going off to college, and then I end up sobbing, and it’s just ugly,” She added, forcing a hint of casual humor into her voice.

“Uh huh. Well, go on. Go make sure nothing’s blown up, or a patient’s gotten lost while you were gone. Oh, want me to tell Dr. Geyer you’re here?”

Melissa shrugged as she moved away. “If you see him. Don’t go out of your way or anything.”

With that, she scurried away as fast as she could, the laptop in her arms feeling as if it were on fire. As she entered the nurse’s lounge and shut the door behind her, she had to physically force herself to walk normally. To sit on the couch as she always did and not hunch over to hide the screen.

While technically, there was no rule about her looking up past patient files, it was discouraged to do so without an ‘official’ reason. She’d always been a strong proponent of the concept, and she’d actually been an advocate for making it an official rule. Which made the guilt just that much worse.

Steeling herself, she pulled up the hospital's filing program, leaving the ‘first name’ portion blank, and moving directly to the ‘last name’ box. She briefly thanked whatever was listening that ‘Raeken’ was uncommon enough to only pull up seven results. She dismissed the first three —Theo’s grandparents, and presumably an uncle —and pulled up Jonathan Raeken first.

At a glance, it wasn’t terribly unusual; most of the records were from the Raeken family physician, who was on the same system as the hospital. Theo’s father had undergone his yearly physicals on schedule. He had his glasses prescription checked twice a year, and was on medication for his cholesterol, which was higher than a man twice his age should’ve had. She moved her way onto the actual hospital records, and as she glanced down through, something caught her eye.

_ January 7th, 2000 -three fractured phalanxes, fractured left wrist, fractured second and fifth metacarpals of left hand _

She narrowed her eyes; had it been just the three broken toes, it probably wouldn’t have caught her attention. But the fractured wrist and ring and pointer finger were clearly a ‘brawler’s fracture’ as they were known; injuries from punching something -or someone -while the wrist was bent at an odd angle.

She opened a new tab, and in the search field, typed ‘Raeken’ for the last name again, but added an incident date. She put January 5th through January 10th in the ‘incident date’ section, and clicked enter.

The result that popped up wasn’t from Beacon Hills Hospital; it was from the Beacon County Free Clinic, about two hours away, on January 10th. Paid for in cash, the visit listed Kimberly Raeken as the adult guardian, and Tara Raeken as the patient. She briefly skimmed over the injuries, and felt her stomach start to churn.

_ Fractured ulna, two cracked ribs, severe contusions, mild concussion, and three broken metacarpals. _

She clicked on Tara’s name in the box, and the first result to pop up was the autopsy. Steeling herself, she pulled up the report.

As she expected, the x-rays that had been done had shown numerous old breaks, including a fracture to the femur, perhaps three years old, putting Tara at about ten when the original break had occurred. The femur was one of the strongest bones in the human body, requiring enormous force to break; in her sixteen years as a nurse, she’d never once seen a thigh bone fracture that wasn’t either caused by a workplace accident, or malicious intent. Even a full grown man wielding a crowbar would find it difficult to facture that particular bone.

In all, Tara’s autopsy listed at least thirty-nine old factures, in various stages of remodeling.

She tabbed back, and went to the beginning of Tara’s listed medical history in Beacon County. Visits dating back to 1996, when she was four years old, at least one or two every year. Although apparently 2002 had been the worst year, with seventeen trips to the ER, urgent care, and her pediatrician.

March of 2003 was when Tara had died. From what Theo had said —to both her and Scott —the Dread Doctors had kidnapped him for good a few weeks later. So in the year leading up to Tara’s death and Theo’s kidnapping, Tara had been beaten to hell at least seventeen times.

Unable to put it off any longer, she tabbed back again, and reluctantly pulled up Theo’s file.

Immediately, her head began to swim as she saw the lengthy file. Longer even than Tara’s, there were ninety-three entries, the first one in ‘97. She clicked the date, and forced herself to read over the reason for the visit.

Theo had been brought in by ambulance from his daycare. The worker there told paramedics that Theo had been sluggish, barely able to even hold his head up, and hadn’t spoken a word to anyone. The worker told the paramedics that, at first, she’d assumed he was simply tired. But when she went to wake him from his nap, she’d noticed the blood dripping from the side of his mouth, and immediately called 911.

A fractured jaw, and severe concussion.

He hadn’t even had his second birthday yet.

She tabbed back quickly, feeling the rage growing. There’d been no mention of anyone calling CPS anywhere in the report. While she wouldn’t have been able to access CDSS reports, any doctor or nurse worth anything would’ve reported the incident, and marked it in their notations of the visit.

She scrolled back to the top, ready to log out, when one of the results caught her eye. In the third to last visit Theo had had, in December of 2002, shortly after his 8th birthday, an attachment was listed. 47 mbs. She clicked on the link.

She could feel her brain slip into ‘Nurse Mode’, compartmentalizing her emotions from the pictures that began loading on her screen. Sixteen high quality photographs.

Staring at the photographs, she suddenly remembered the little blond boy from the photographs so much clearer. Those crystal clear blue eyes, so numb and devoid of life, underneath a moppish head of dark blond hair. In the photos he was looking at the camera, he seemed to be staring off into the distance, at a spot just behind whoever was taking the pictures.

His little body was covered in bruises. Small cuts dotted his torso at random, and in the pictures of his back, long red lines crisscrossed from his shoulders down to his thighs. She had, unfortunately, seen injuries like that before, and knew exactly what had caused the marks. Being hit with a belt, over and over in the same spots, until the skin blistered and the blisters began to burst.

How long would it have taken to cause marks that severe? How long to cover almost every inch of skin, from neck to thighs? An hour? Two?

When she got to the end of the pictures, she was surprised to see a handwritten statement at the bottom.

_ I, Rochelle DeMunn, submit these pictures of Theo Marcus Raeken, along with my resignation. In my six years here at Beacon Memorial Hospital, I have called Child Protective Services nine times for either Theo or his sister, Tara Elizabeth Raeken. Nine times, the case has been closed as ‘unindicated -lacks verifiable proof’. By uploading these pictures, they can only be removed by the California Medical Board, with approval by the California Surgeon General. Perhaps this will count as verifiable ‘proof’ -hopefully before these two children end up dead. _

_ I understand that my actions -uploading permanent notes to a case without approval from the hospital Dean-are grounds for my termination. And I accept full responsibility for my actions, and tender my resignation. _

Slowly, Melissa closed the laptop, fighting the urge to throw the damned thing to the ground as she set it down on the table.

As she left the room, she pulled out her phone, and dialed. A few moments later, the other end picked up.

“Melissa?”

“Noah, I need a favor,” She said without preamble.

“You okay? What’s wrong?” Noah asked, picking up on her tone of voice, instantly going into Sheriff Mode.

“No. No, I am not okay. I need you to pull whatever reports you have on Theo and Tara Raeken from ‘92 to ‘03. Then, I need you to tell me why the hell nobody took these kids away from their parents.” 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized I totally forgot to add this chapter in, like... blond moment much?

“I had to call in some favors for these.”

Melissa stared at the two folders as Noah held them out to her, his face carefully neutral.

“I pulled our files; apparently we investigated too.”

Finally, Melissa reached out and took the files, setting them on her lap without opening them. “That’s a bit unusual, isn’t it? You typically only get called in for an in-progress, I thought?”

Noah nodded as he slowly sat at his desk. “It’s… Well, the long and short of it is that we got a call from one of the caseworkers. We opened a file.”

Melissa waited for him to continue for a moment, before clearing her throat. “And?”

Noah sighed and leaned back into his chair. “You can see for yourself, that’s a pretty thick file. Both of ‘em are. Oldest report came in about a year before Theo was born. Daycare called — teacher found a bruise on Tara’s chest. Tara was about two, I think? Parents didn’t have any sort of explanation; apparently, John and Kimberly basically just said she was clumsy, they couldn’t remember how she got it. That she might have fallen or tripped over something. CPS went to the house, talked to the parents before they even talked to the daycare teacher. Based off the notes in there, I don’t think the caseworker even looked at Tara. She saw the house, met the parents, and closed it as unindicated.”

He laced his fingers behind his head. “And that’s pretty much how the reports always went. Somebody would call, usually a teacher, or a nurse, caseworker goes and talks to John and Kim, case closed as unindicated. No matter what evidence there was; pictures, bruises, marks, even the kids themselves -it didn’t matter. The case was  _ always  _ closed as unindicated. Some of the notes in the CPS files even comment on it.”

“What? How the hell could that happen?” Melissa demanded. “If there’s evidence, they had to do something!”

“You’d think so. But the thing is, with CPS cases, the caseworker works the case, then takes all the evidence to their supervisor. Supervisor makes the final call, then passes the case off to legal to verify. Problem is, the Raekens never got beyond the legal team. Even when a supervisor would call the case indicated, legal never agreed. Most of those cases didn’t get beyond the supervisor level, and the ones that did never made it through legal. So when Tara was 8, Theo was 5, one of the caseworkers called us in. Wanted us to go out and investigate with them. It was definitely a weird call, first time it’d happened here in Beacon Hills. But the deputy got permission, and went to investigate. He filed his report, and it got stuck in our file room. Didn’t go anywhere.”

“Why?” 

“John was a district attorney, Kim’s father was a sitting judge. I talked to some folks, from what I could gather, the attorney for DSS at the time was one of John’s close friends, they went through law school together. And the good ol’ boy system kept too many cops from complaining; Judge Shermer always made sure our boys got warrants when they wanted them, donated to the policeman’s charities, all that.”

“So what you’re saying,” Melissa said slowly, “Is that everybody knew, and nobody did anything about it.”

Noah nodded slowly. “For the most part, yes. Some people tried; there’s a report on Theo in there… Few months before Tara died, kid went to the ER lookin’ like hell. The caseworker fought it right to the bitter end, kept the case open right up until Tara’s body was found. She even came in here after, trying to convince us to investigate the Raekens for her death.” Noah hesitated for a moment, before looking down at his desk, guilt written all over his face. “I took the report she filed with us. Went and talked to Theo about it, but… That was when Claudia went after Stiles, and… “He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I had so much going on, and… When the Sheriff told me to let it go, that nothing would come of it anyways, I had so much going on. I was worried about my own shit, Theo wasn’t saying anything to anyone, so I just… let it go.”

Melissa reached across the desk, and laid her hand on his. “I know,” She said quietly. “I looked up the hospital reports, and… When I saw my own name on some of the initial intake reports… Noah, I can’t even remember them. I don’t know if I just passed them off to another nurse, figured somebody else would handle it, or if I even noticed,” She admitted. “I had everything going on with Rafael, and Scott, I just… I don’t know.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in their own guilt before Noah looked up again.

“I know I owe Theo. He saved my daughter-in-law, and my grandchild in Canada. Knowing that, and then seeing these files... “ He looked back out the window. “I failed him. It’s bad enough knowing the system that I’m a part of failed these kids that badly; to know that I was a part of it, that I had an active role in it makes it worse. I allowed John and Kim Raeken to abuse the system, while I just sat and let it happen.”

“Did you find them? Are they still alive?” Melissa asked quietly.

Noah nodded again. “Yeah. About a month after Tara went missing, they packed everything up, and moved to San Diego. John found a job with a private firm down there. They’re still there.”

“Did… Did they even file a missing person’s report?”

Noah shook his head. “No. I checked state and national; they just packed up and moved. I looked a bit into San Diego; nobody down there even knows they had a son.” He hesitated a moment, before asking, “Are you gonna tell Theo?”

“Honestly, Noah… I don’t know,” She admitted. “Before Canada, I would’ve said no. He was getting better, no reason to drag it back to the surface. But these last few months, he’s been doing pretty bad. He started going to see Lydia yesterday, but he just keeps getting worse. I don’t know for sure, but I think he thinks he deserved all this,” She said heatedly, picking up the file, and setting it down on the desk. “He’s just as traumatized by living with his parents as he was with the Doctors. Maybe more so, in a different way. If it wasn’t for his parents, I don’t think the Dread Doctors would’ve been able to mold him the way they did. What the Raekens did to him basically created the perfect victim for the Doctors experiments; he was used to pain, he was used to no one giving a damn about him, and struggling to survive. Being kidnapped by the Doctors just changed the cage.”

  
  


*******

  
  


_ Theo. _

_ Theo. _

_ Failure. _

_ Theo Raeken. _

_ Failure. _

_ Goddamn useless piece of shit. _

_ If you’d just behave like I ask. _

_ Theo. _

“Theo! Theo, it’s me! Theo!”

_ Failures are exterminated. _

_ Do not fail. _

“Theo, honey, c’mon. You gotta wake up.”

_ I’m sorry, Theo, but it’ll be better this way. I promise. _

_ Theo, I’m sorry. Help me, Theo, please. _

“Theo, dammit, wake up!”

  
  
  


Melissa jerked back as Theo sat straight up, like something out of a horror movie. His yellow eyes flashed around the room for a moment, before he shoved her away and leaned over the side of the bed.

Melissa reached over, rubbing his back as soothingly as she could. Theo puked until he dry heaved, luckily getting most of it in the wastebasket. Finally, he choked something out, and she leaned in closer to try and hear him.

“Don’t… don’t fucking… touch me,” He panted, jerking his head away from where she’d leaned closer.

“Theo, honey… It’s fine. It’s okay,” She said quietly, although she’d had enough experience with upset werewolves to do as he asked. She moved around in front of him, careful to stay where he could see her.

“I’m gonna get you some water, alright? Just sit back when you’re ready, I’ll be right back.”

He muttered something she couldn’t hear as she got to her feet, stepping around the four little whining little furballs gathered at her feet. While she didn’t ‘run’, she definitely hustled downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it in the sink, before hurrying back upstairs.

In the short amount of time it’d taken her, Theo had slid onto the floor, his back against the bed. His face was pale, sweat glistening on his forehead, but what really caught her attention was the puppies.

Thor and Bucky had climbed up and burrowed into his lap, while Clint and Natasha were pressed against either side of him, licking his hands. Theo, for his part, seemed to be staring at either his hands or the puppies licking them.

“Here. It’ll help,” She said quietly, kneeling down to eye level and handing him the glass.

“Thanks.” His voice sounded like broken glass as he took the water, and downed it in one go. He handed the glass back to her, and shuddered a bit, before meeting her gaze. “How…?”

“The puppies,” Melissa explained with a soft smile. “Bucky got out of the box somehow, came in and started yipping until I got up. By the time I got in here, they were all trying to figure out how to get up on the bed.”

“Sorry.”

“Theo… Honey, you don’t have to apologize. You had a nightmare; it’s okay.”

He shrugged as he began to pet Natasha’s head, and Melissa gave him a concerned look.

“If it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t have realized,” She said quietly. “You weren’t making any noise. I tried to wake you up, and that’s when I realized something was wrong.”

“It’s not a big deal; you didn’t have to worry about it.”

Melissa sighed as she sat down across from him, her knees protesting how long she’d been kneeling. “Theo… You can’t stop me from worrying about you,” She said firmly. “Just like I worry about Scott. Do you really think that I was just going to walk away, and leave you like that? I’d think after this long, you’d know me better than that.”

“I know, but… It doesn’t…” He seemed to struggle for words, and Melissa gave him a smile.

“You know, I’m starting to think you’ve got a low opinion of me, Theo.” She almost chuckled. His head snapped up, mouth open to deny it, but she continued, “You either think I’m a horrible person who can just decide to not care about things, or that I’m a complete idiot incapable of knowing the people I care about.”

“What? No, that’s not…”

“Then why do you keep insisting that I shouldn’t worry about you? You’re a smart kid, Theo; if you actually stopped hating yourself long enough to think about it, you’d realize how insulting it is that you do that. Not that I’m insulted,” She hastened to add. “But those are really the only two options you have when you insist that people shouldn’t be concerned about you. But it’s late; think you’ll be able to go back to sleep?”

Theo hesitated, before he finally shook his head. “I don’t know,” He admitted hoarsely. “Maybe.”

Melissa smiled as she stood. “Tell you what… Why don’t you let the puppies sleep with you? One night of bad behavior isn’t going to ruin them, and I think you’d sleep better.”

Theo looked down at the puppies, before giving her a hesitant smile. “Yeah, I think I will. And uh… Thanks, Melissa.”

“Any time, and every time, Theo. Don’t you ever doubt it.


	8. Chapter 8

Scott sighed as he entered the house, quietly dropping his keys on the small table by the door. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he trudged into the kitchen and saw his mom sitting at the table, a cup of coffee next to one hand, the other flipping through a file folder.

“Hey, Mom,” He said quietly, leaning on the chair across from her. “Where’s Theo?”

Melissa glanced up at him tiredly. “Sleeping. Hopefully,” She added quietly, almost to herself. “How was the trip?”

Scott moved over to the coffee pot, and poured himself a large mug. After taking a sip, he leaned back against the counter. “Honestly, mom? It was… Davis is beautiful; met a nice pair of omegas down there. High school sweethearts. Talked to the professors I’d have if I went for veterinary science; they were really nice. Seemed excited to have me. I imagine Deaton’s recommendation meant a lot; at least two of them know him, I guess.” He paused, trying to gather his thoughts, and when he looked back up, Melissa was smiling at him fondly. “What?”

“But you’re not going.”

He couldn’t keep the surprise off his face. “How’d you… ?”

She chuckled as she crossed her arms across her chest. “Because I know you, honey. I’m glad you went. I think it was good for you to have a break, hang out with your friends. But… Scott, I gave up on you having a normal life that night when Gerard had the Kanima attack at the football field. Doesn’t mean I like it,” She said pointedly. “I worry about you every day. But I’m still proud of you.”

Scott chuckled too. “Thanks, mom. I… I know it’s not what you wanted for me, but -”

“I just want you to be happy, Scott,” She interrupted . “That’s all I’ve  _ ever  _ wanted for you. If staying here, taking care of Beacon Hills, is what makes you happy? Then I’m happy.”

Scott thought on that for a moment. “This is where I belong; people need me here. And… right now?” He chuckled a bit. “The way everything’s been going, with me and Theo… Yeah, I’m happy.” He moved back over to the table, and sat down. “How’d things go while I was gone?”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Well, nobody got shot, my house is still in one piece, and nobody’s been kidnapped. So all in all… better than usual,” She said wryly.

“And Theo?”

She hesitated for a moment before speaking. “He’s… Well, his nightmares have gotten better since we started letting the puppies sleep with him. I don’t know if they wake him up, or if they keep the nightmares from happening, but… he’s sleeping better, at least.”

“At least?” Scott repeated, unable to keep the suspicion from his voice.

Melissa sighed, and Scott didn’t miss the way her eyes went back to the folders laying on the table before she looked back up. “He’s struggling, Scott. He just… I don’t know,” She said tiredly. “I just don’t know. Some days it seems like he’s doing better, other days… well.”

Scott was quiet for a few minutes, the heavy silence feeling like a physical weight before he leaned forward, his eyes on the folders. “Mom… what are those?”

Melissa lowered her head, and when she looked up again, Scott could see both sadness and rage warring in her eyes as she spoke.

“It’s Theo’s. His files, that is. Medical reports, CPS files, police reports… Noah even managed to get some of his school records,” She said quietly. 

“His parents? What they…?” His voice gave out, and he found himself unable to ask, and without thought, his hand started to reach towards the files. As soon as he realized, he yanked his hand back. Part of him wanted to look; wanted to know the horrors Theo’s parents had put him through, a physical explanation for dozens of Theo’s actions and reactions. Why he flinched when adults raised their voice, or why he hid so much of himself away.

A larger part of him didn’t want to know; knew that actually knowing what had happened would most likely be worse than wondering.

“Yeah.” While Melissa didn’t look away, Scott knew from her tone she’d noticed his movement.

“How bad?”

“Bad. From…” She stopped, and cleared her throat before speaking again. “From what I can tell looking at these… It started with Tara, about the time Theo’s mom was pregnant with him. First report on Theo came in when he was about a year old. Broken jaw, and a severe concussion —which explains why he had such a hard time learning to read when he started school; a couple teachers commented on it. Traumatic brain injury that young could have had that effect,” She said softly. 

Scott nodded. “Yeah, I remember. He… He used to have to go to special classes. Our teacher said he was dyslexic. I mean, that’s not what she said, but that was what she meant.”

“Yeah. That’s listed in here. I’d say it’s  _ all _ here, but,,” She added darkly. “It probably isn’t. This is just what made it into reports. Probably not even the worst of it.”

Scott flinched as she slammed one of the files closed, and shoved it away from her, towards the center of the table. The silence filled the room again, oppressive, and Scott would swear he was struggling to breath as he stared at the folders. With his enhanced hearing, the hum of the refrigerator, the condensation from the pipes dripping beneath the house… it was thrumming, all so loud, but so quiet as he stared at the folders.

“Are you going to read them?”

Melissa’s voice made him jump, sounding like someone roaring in his ears, and when he looked up at her, it felt like he was staring at her through a pool of water.

“I… No,” He said slowly. “No. It’s… It’s Theo’s. You should… You should give them to him. If he doesn’t want to share it with me, then he doesn’t. I… I want Theo to want to share it with me; if he doesn’t, then I’m not going behind his back to… I don’t know,” He finished quietly. “Just doesn’t feel right.”

Melissa nodded, and leaned over, grabbing the brown folders and stacking them together. “I’ll tell him in the morning. Then he can do whatever he wants with them. Why don’t you go get some sleep? You must be exhausted.”

Scott nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I will. G’night, mom.”

“Night, honey.”

Scott was almost to the stairs, when a new question occurred to him. He turned, and started back towards the kitchen. “Mom?”

She looked over at him from the counter, where she was washing out the coffee cups. “Yeah?”

“What happened to his parents?”

She scoffed as she set the cups down on the counter. “Absolutely nothing. They’re living in San Diego. Which only makes all of that so much worse.” She paused for a moment. “Are you going to tell him?”

Scott thought for a moment, before shrugging. “I don’t know. I need to see how he’s doing and think about it Night, mom.”

* * *

Theo woke slowly, the feeling of a good night’s rest for the second night in a row almost overpowering as he stretched out. He bit back a chuckle as he heard Natasha grumble at the movement, and absently reached over to pet her head.

He froze as his hand settled on another body next to him, and his eyes flew open, panic holding him still. He relaxed again though when he looked over to see it was only Scott. Damn, he must’ve come in late if Theo had slept through him going to bed.

Which meant he was probably tired. Long drives always tired Scott out, and after a week in San Diego, partying with the Pack, he was probably exhausted. So Theo quietly slipped out of bed, tiptoeing across the room to grab his clothes from the laundry basket.

But his plans were ruined as he slipped a shirt on; the puppies, used to the routine by now, realized it was breakfast time and started barking happily as they tumbled off the bed.

Scott woke, yawning as he sat up, giving Theo a large smile. “Morning,” He said sleepily.

“Sorry,” Theo said quietly. “I was trying to be quiet, but…” He gestured at the puppies with a smile. “They’re used to eating first thing. Surprised they slept as long as they did.”

Scott chuckled. “No worries; I got a few hours, I’ll be good.” Almost immediately after he spoke, his face fell, a serious look taking over, before he schooled it back to contentedness.

But Theo knew what he’d seen. “What?” He asked, unable to keep the suspicion out of his voice. “What’s going on? What happened?”

Scott sighed as he stood. “Let’s uh… let’s feed the kids, and get some breakfast. We can talk afterwards.”

“Oh yeah, because I’m really in the mood to eat now.” Theo snorted as he opened the door, stepping to the side to avoid the rush as the puppies bolted out. 

Scott rolled his eyes as he followed Theo out of the bedroom and moved towards the stairs. “Alright, well let’s at least feed the yappers; we can’t really talk with them going on like that.”

“Fair enough.” Theo tried to fight the coldness setting in. That carefully cultivated numbness he’d spent years perfecting, as he methodically went about feeding the puppies. The routine helping to settle his nerves, as he tapped Nat on the nose as she tried sneaking into Thor’s food dish. He scooched her towards her own dish, before he turned back towards Scott. “Alright. So I assume it went well at Davis then?”

Scott blinked a few times, freezing on his way to set the cups of coffee down on the table. “Huh?”

Theo shrugged as he sat down; he didn’t have to look at the cup to know that Scott had added milk and sugar. Exactly the way he liked it. “It’s fine, Scott; I get it. I’m happy for you; you deserve this,” He said, forcing a smile to his face. “I’ve been telling you that you need to move on, and -”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Scott interrupted, sitting down across from him. “Theo, I’m not going to Davis. That’s not what this is about.”

“You’re not?” Theo grabbed hold of the cup, letting the warmth of the mug seep through to his hands, trying to decide how he felt about that. 

On the one hand, he wanted Scott to go to college; to have a life outside of Beacon Hills, to get the chance to be a normal guy for a change, instead of the white knight. On the other hand, however, he couldn’t help the small glimmer of excitement that flashed through his chest; Scott was staying. Theo didn’t have to be alone again.

He shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts, before staring over at Scott. “Then what’s it about?”

Scott hesitated a moment, before he moved to the fridge and pulled something down from the top of it. He walked back over to Theo, and set down what looked to be twenty or so file folders in front of him.

Theo glanced at the files, then back up at Scott, before his brain caught up with his eyes. He stared back down at the files for a few seconds, then he leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest.

“What are these?”

“They’re uh… your files.”

“Of?”

Scott glanced down at his hands before looking up again. “CPS reports. Hospital reports. Police reports. School reports,” He said quietly.

“Okay… and you have them because?”

“I didn’t read them.” Scott clarified, quickly. “I didn’t know if you’d want me to. My mom and the sheriff put them together.”

Theo couldn’t hold back his snort, although he still avoided looking at the folders. “Of course she did. Look, she’s worrying about nothing; I’m fi—”

“Theo, don’t,” Scott interrupted softly. “You’re not fine. And that’s  _ okay _ . I don’t expect you to be fine.  _ Nobody _ expects you to be fine, but… Theo, I do wish you would be more  _ honest  _ with me about what you’re going through. I wish that you would talk to me. I’m asking a lot, and that doesn’t come easy to you, but after everything we’ve been through together… ” He said, catching Theo’s eye and holding his gaze.

Theo held his look for a few seconds, before looking away, and waving his hand. “Scott, look… I  _ am  _ being honest. I’m telling you I’m fine—sure, maybe I’m not okay, but I’m dealing with things, alright?”

“Shoving things down, and pretending they didn’t happen isn’t ‘dealing’ with them, Theo,” Scott said stubbornly. “Pretending everything is okay, and nothing bad happened, isn’t going to make it true.”

Theo ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “Maybe you’re right, but that’s how I deal with things. I got through ten years of hell with that coping mechanism, and it’s worked out as well as can be expected.”

“That may have helped you get by when you were with the Doctors but it isn’t helping you anymore,” Scott countered. “You just bottle things up, and it’s not healthy” He said sincerely. “It’s okay to talk about them; to let the hurt actually  _ hurt _ . I’ve lost… I’ve lost a  _ lot _ , Theo. Had things go so wrong I couldn’t even begin to figure out what ‘right’ was. I’ve been lost, and hurt, and angry, but you know what? I’m okay because I let myself  _ feel  _ that loss. That hurt, that anger. I didn't bury it, and let it fester like an infection.”

****

Theo was so quiet, for a few minutes, Scott thought the Chimera was just going to ignore him. But finally, quietly, Theo spoke again.

“Scott, I… I want to. I do, I just…” He was quiet again for a few moments, before he looked back up. “My entire life, I couldn’t… I was expected to just… Not be a bother. I don’t even know… I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

Scott smiled a bit. “Then we’ll start easy. Small stuff. Look at those files; what do you feel when you see them?”

Theo hesitated, his hands ghosting over the unopened folders, clearly trying to think. Finally, he shook his head. “I don’t feel anything, Scott. I’m not trying to hide anything, I just… don’t feel it.”

“You have to feel something, Theo,” Scott said encouragingly. “You looked nervous the second you saw them. That’s your childhood in those folders; that  _ has  _ to make you feel something.”

Theo shrugged. “It doesn’t. Like… It happened, but looking back at it, it’s like it happened to someone else. Some other kid. I can remember things, but it’s… distant?” He tried, before shaking his head. “Like it wasn’t me.”

“Alright.” Scott nodded understandingly, coaxing him to continue.

“I can remember hurting…” He swallowed a bit, trying to speak past the lump in his throat, the feeling of the void swallowing him as he spoke. “I remember the pain, but it’s like… It’s like trying to breath in a heavy fog; you remember it sucked, but you can’t really remember the feeling enough to put it into words.”

Scott reached across the table, putting his hand on top of Theo’s. “That’s good, Theo. It’s a really good start.”

Theo scoffed, but Scott considered the fact that he didn’t pull his hand away a victory. “I just said I don’t feel anything about it; how is that good?”

“Because you at least remember that it hurt, and you told me. That’s a good start.” He took a deep breath. “Your parents are still alive, you know. They’re living in San Francisco. Does that make you feel anything?”

He was sure he’d fucked it all up when Theo pulled his hand back sharply. Theo tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, as Scott’s heart pounded in his chest.

But finally, he spoke again.

“Bitter.”

“It makes you feel bitter?” Scott asked, trying to keep the surprise from his voice. “Not… angry, or sad, or frustrated?”

Theo shrugged, folding his arms across his chest again. “Why would it? It happened; it sucked. But me getting angry isn’t going to change anything. It’s not gonna change what happened.”

“Do… do you want to see them? We could drive down, and —”

“No.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terribly sorry for the long delay folks, but I wrote, rewrote, scrapped, and started over on this chapter about seven times. You can thank Demonzdust for finally getting my paranoia under control lol.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> *******IMPORANT*******
> 
> I just realized that I completely missed chapter 7; it explains a lot more of Theo's past, what happened, why nobody ever did anything about it, as well as some Theo&Melissa hurt/comfort. You should go read that lol

Scott glanced over at Theo. The Chimera was sitting with one foot on the dashboard, chewing the skin on the side of his thumb, as he starred out the window as the highway.

“You okay?” He asked, turning his gaze back towards the road.

“Huh? Yeah. I’m fine.”

“You sure? I mean… First you say you don’t want to do this, then all of the sudden we’re gassing up the truck that night. I just —”

“Please don’t ask if I’m sure,” Theo said quietly. “Because I’m not, and I’m already overthinking it.”

Scott just nodded. “Alright.”

It was silent for a few minutes. Nothing but the sound of passing traffic and Theo’s foot tapping nervously on the dash. Finally, though, Theo spoke.

“What do I do? What am I supposed to say to them?”

“Honestly, Theo…” Scott sighed, “That’s something only you know. Something only you can decide.” He hesitated for a second, before offering, “If you wanna tell me what you think you’re going to tell them, or what you want to tell them, I can tell you what I think.”

Theo sighed in return. “I don’t even know, Scott. I’ve got like… a hundred different thoughts racing around, and they all pretty much make me sound like a whiny little bitch. ‘Why’d you do that to me’?” He gave Scott a sardonic smile. “Simple answer: because they could. ‘Do you feel bad about what you did’?” He shook his head a little. “They don’t. Didn’t ten years ago, they’re not going to now. Like… I feel like I’m jumping without a parachute, Scott,” He finished quietly.

“I know this is going to sound like I’m telling you what to do.” Scott started, then paused, frowning. “Well, I guess I am, but it’s actually advice, okay?” When Theo nodded, he continued. “Those questions? It makes it about them. This isn’t about them. It’s about you. You can ask them how they thought you felt about it. You can yell at them. You can tell them how you survived everything, despite them. But don’t let this be about them, and how  _ they _ felt. Because, Theo… It’s about you. This is to bring  _ you _ some closure. About maybe even finding you some peace.”

Theo went quiet, and Scott counted twenty-seven mile markers before he spoke again.

“You know… I spent my entire childhood being afraid of them. Afraid of what they could, and did, do to me. I… I was as afraid of them as I was the Doctors,”  Theo admitted quietly, his voice soft. 

He paused, and Scott glanced over again, giving him an encouraging smile. “You’re doing good, Theo. Don’t stop now.”

Theo hesitated, before continuing. “Hell, if I’m being honest, Scott? I’m still afraid of them,” He said, his voice nearly a whisper. “The closer we get, the more I feel like a kid again, waiting for them to punish me for something.”

“They can’t hurt you anymore, Theo,” Scott said firmly.

“Yeah, I know, I’m a big boy now, and -”

“No,” Scott said, shaking his head. “That’s not why.”

“Why then?”

“Because I won’t let them,” Scott said, letting some of his Alpha power seep into his words. “Theo, I know I can’t promise that nothing bad will ever happen. That I’ll always be there to stop every bad thing. I’m not gonna be the guy who promises that nobody will ever hurt you ever again, because honestly? The life we lead, who we are… Well, shit’s bound to go sideways every so often. But as long as I’m by your side… nothing is ever going to hurt you without killing me first.”

Theo stared at him for a few minutes, his blue eyes carefully blank and neutral. The mask that Scott hated firmly in place, before he spoke.

“We’ve still got an eight hour drive ahead of us. I’m gonna try and get some sleep.”

_ *********** _

“This is it,” Scott said quietly, shutting the truck off.

Theo took a deep breath, glancing at Scott once, before they both got out of the truck, and began walking up the decorative walkway leading the large, two-story house.

“You ready?” Scott asked quietly as they came to a stop at the door.

Theo gave him a nervous smile. “Too late now, right?” He asked. Scott noticed the shaking in his hand as he reached out to press the doorbell,  and he felt the overwhelming urge to reach out, to take Theo’s hand, to touch his shoulder, something, anything -but he knew it would only make things worse.

After perhaps thirty seconds, the door opened. To Scott’s amazement, the woman who answered it was… kind of average looking. Pretty enough, he supposed, although she was starting to develop crow’s feet around her eyes. He’d put her age at around forty or so. She was wearing enough makeup to make it difficult to tell, but not enough to be anything but classy. Despite the fact that it was still relatively early in the morning, barely eleven, she was dressed in a pair of casual slacks and a dress shirt.

“Yes? Can I help you?” She asked, her voice friendly, but still suspicious. Scott waited a few moments for Theo to speak, but the Chimera seemed stunned to silence, so Scott cleared his throat.

“Kimberly Raeken?” He asked, still glancing over at Theo, waiting for him to say… anything.

“Yes. What do you want?” Her tone turned harsher.

“It’s…” Theo struggled for a moment, before speaking more clearly. “It’s me. Theo.”

Scott watched as the woman leaned forward, eyes widening in surprise, before narrowing again as she searched Theo’s face. After a moment, she took a step back from the door, and motioned for them to come in.

Scott moved first, nudging Theo as he went, and the two entered, Mrs. Raeken shutting the door quietly behind them. He couldn’t help but notice how ornate everything in the house seemed to be; it whispered wealth, in that way that made you notice without being in your face. Everything was tastefully decorated, right down to the throw pillows on the couch in the living room she lead them to.

Tasteful… and cold. The entire house gave Scott a chill, like walking through a graveyard. No life, no personality, no… nothing.

“Please. Sit.”

Mrs. Raeken’s voice pulled Scott from his observations, and he sat on the couch, motioning for Theo to do the same. When Theo remained silent, Scott finally cleared his throat a bit.

“I’m uh… I’m Scott McCall. Theo’s been living with me,” He said awkwardly, trying to clear the oppressive silence building.

“Is… Is that where you disappeared to, Theo?” Mrs. Raeken asked hesitantly. “You’ve been staying with friends for ten years? We assumed you ran away, but —”

Like a switch being flipped, Scott watched as Theo’s stiff posture relaxed, his eyes flashing yellow as he smirked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

“Run away? Why would I run away,  _ mom _ ?” He asked, putting a sharp emphasis on ‘mom’; Mrs. Raeken reacted as if she’d been slapped, pulling back in her chair as Theo continued. “Because  _ dear old dad _ used to beat me with a belt until I couldn’t stand? Because he used to lock me in the dark basement for days? Because I got tired of being thrown down the stairs? Thrown through tables, and into walls? Why would I ever want to leave all that behind?” He practically cooed, and Scott couldn’t help the shiver shiver that went down his spine at the sound.

“That… That wasn’t my fault, Theo,” Mrs. Raeken stammered, shrinking in her seat. “If you and Tara had just listened, if you’d just  _ behaved _ , none of that would have happened!”

“We were fucking  _ kids _ !” Theo roared, surging to his feet, and before Scott’s brain could process it, Theo had his claws at his mother’s throat, his face fully transformed. “You were supposed to  _ protect  _ us, and you let him fucking torture us!”

Scott stood, but didn’t move, unsure of what to do as he whispered, “Theo.”

The Chimera ignored him, leaning in closer to Mrs. Raeken. “Look at me, mom. Look at me,” He hissed. “Tara was telling the truth about the monsters that were after her. When she died, they took me instead. They experimented on me, mom.  _ Tortured  _ me. Turned me into  _ this _ .  _ Look. At. Me _ .” When she finally looked up, her panicked eyes meeting Theo’s, he nodded, a sharp, terrifying smile on his face. 

“Do you like it, mom? They made me into the monster you and dad always said I was. While you were going to dinner parties, I was cleaning up the bodies of kids who didn’t survive the process. While you were going to galas, I was strapped to a table, having my organs rearranged. While you went about your lives like nothing had happened, I lived in hell. For  _ ten fucking years _ , mom.” Mrs. Raeken’s eyes slide away, and Scott saw Theo tighten his grip. “Did you even look for me?” He whispered, using his other hand to grab her chin, and force her to meet his eyes. “Ten years, they had me. Ten  _ years _ . Did you even  _ try  _ to find me?”

Scott finally managed to make his feet move, grabbing Theo’s arm as gently as he could. “Theo, that’s enough,” He said softly. “She’s not worth it.”

Theo turned his head towards him, meeting his eyes for only a moment, and the pain and anger Scott saw there nearly bowled him over. There was a moment of utter stillness, before something else -something Scott recognized as his Theo -flickered in his eyes. Then Theo turned back towards his mother and released his grip. He took a step back, yanking his arm out of Scott’s grasp

“Go ahead and tell people,” He said coldly, as he moved towards the door. “Then you can know Tara felt when you didn’t believe her.”


End file.
